{"id":481,"date":"2011-04-04T05:45:01","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T10:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=481"},"modified":"2011-04-04T05:45:01","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T10:45:01","slug":"album-review-the-definitive-albert-king-on-stax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/04\/album-review-the-definitive-albert-king-on-stax\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Definitive Albert King on Stax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albert King<\/strong> is (or was) The Man. Even rock fans who\u2019ve never heard (or actively listened for) King will find his music oddly familiar. And the reason for that is simple: Albert King cast a huge and influential shadow over the careers of many of rock\u2019s finest guitarists.<\/p>\n

The left-handed axeman\u2019s heyday largely coincided with his time on legendary Stax Records. And thanks to the archive-minded folks who run the label that now controls the Stax catalog, the latest in Concord\u2019s Definitive<\/em> series is a 2cd collection of Albert King sides.<\/p>\n

The set kicks off with a a pre-Stax 1961 single featuring Ike Turner<\/strong> on piano. (Not to go too far off-topic, but Tuner\u2019s failures as a man and husband have unfortunately led some to ignore his serious contributions to music. Just sayin\u2019.) Even in \u201961 King played in a modern style; his music still sounds fresh \u2013 hardly dated at all \u2013 a half-century later.<\/p>\n

Most of the remaining tracks on the first disc feature King backed by the peerless team of Steve Cropper<\/strong> (guitar), Donald \u201cDuck\u201d Dunn<\/strong> (bass), Al Jackson, Jr.<\/strong> (drums) and Booker T. Jones<\/strong> (keyboards). Yes, Stax\u2019s celebrated house band The MGs<\/strong> ably backed King through most of the latter half of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

King\u2019s influence extended far and wide. British blues revivalists had a special affection for the man and his music: His 1966 single \u201cOh!\u201d Pretty Woman\u201d (not the Roy Orbison<\/strong> song) was covered on an early John Mayall<\/strong> album. And Eric Clapton<\/strong> made many visits to the Albert King well of inspiration; he\u2019d cover several of King\u2019s songs. Perhaps most notable among those is Cream<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cBorn Under a Bad Sign.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Cream covered the song shortly after King released his own version. Both are essential.<\/p>\n

King was celebrated in his home country, too. Stevie Ray Vaughan<\/strong> covered \u201cThe Sky is Crying (an Elmore James<\/strong> song recorded by King in 1970), and a posthumous SRV compilation took its title from the song. (Stevie and Albert played together on television once, too; that performance is reviewed here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

One need not be a hardcore blues aficionado to enjoy and appreciate Albert King. His innately rocking sensibility \u2013 achieved effortlessly and without artifice \u2013 is such that he\u2019s an ideal entry point into blues. His electric guitar is always out front in his songs, but there was always plenty-else going on as well. Sometimes King relates stories in a sung\/spoken manner; witness \u201c(I Love) Lucy\u201d from 1968. Other times he lets his guitar do most of the talking (as on 1967\u2019s \u201cCold Feet.\u201d And beefy yet sympathetic backing from the MGs \u2013 and, as the sixties progress, the Memphis Horns<\/strong> as well — makes good songs even better.<\/p>\n

King was a capable composer, but his strengths were such that he made others\u2019 work his own. Whether he was recording a number from the Stax house writers, a blues chestnut (Howlin Wolf<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cKilling Floor\u201d), or covering a rock song (\u201cHound Dog\u201d or the Rolling Stones<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cHonky Tonk Woman\u201d he put his indelible stamp on the music.<\/p>\n

By the early 70s (the period covered on the second disc of The Definitive Albert King on Stax<\/em>) King had switched to using, variously, the Muscle Shoals<\/strong> rhythm section, labelmates The Bar-Kays<\/strong>, and\/or Isaac Hayes\u2019 Movement<\/strong>. All cold be counted on to deliver the goods for King.<\/p>\n

King managed the deft trick of establishing a distinctive style that still allowed him the freedom to create widely varying music. \u201cShe Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride\u201d is soulful rock as much as it\u2019s blues. On the John Mayall-produced \u201cTell Me What True Love Is,\u201d King plays atop an oddly skeletal big-band jazz arrangement; while it\u2019s not among his most deathless performances, it remains \u2013 like all of King\u2019s work \u2013 worth a listen. His excellent \u201972 LP I\u2019ll Play the Blues for You<\/em> is represented on the Definitive<\/em> set by no less than four cuts.<\/p>\n

A track from the Wattstax<\/em> soundtrack (\u201cMatch Box Blues\u201d) shows that King could — and did — tear it up onstage as well; here he plays with more distortion than was often heard on his studio sides.<\/p>\n

But while King applied himself to a number of styles, funk is the genre that King most successfully assimilated into his style in the 70s. The 1972 single \u201cAngel of Mercy\u201d weds King\u2019s style to a thrilling arrangement highlighted by horns and electric piano. He makes the point explicitly on \u201cI Wanna Get Funky,\u201d employing production and arrangement styles of Isaac Hayes (though Hayes himself is not present). \u201cPlaying on Me\u201d shows that King could adapt to subtly changing commercial trends without selling out his style. Even with wah-wah guitars and backing vocals from the ultrafunky Hot Buttered Soul<\/strong> gals, King is still Albert King.<\/p>\n

A 1974 remake of \u201cCrosscut Saw\u201d is a gutsy reinvention of the song; it bridges the gap between straight-ahead electric blues and deep-fried 70s funk. Less successful but a charming oddity is a 1975 single — complete with sleighbells —\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cSanta Claus Wants Some Lovin\u2019.\u201d A track from his Funky London<\/em> LP \u201cDriving Wheel\u201d is a typically ace performance marred slightly by thin production. \u201cI\u2019m Doing Fine\u201d from King\u2019s deleted 1977 colleciton The Pinch<\/em> is an oddity: his guitar is de-emphasized in favor of a soul arrangement. But it too is worthwhile, even though his voice has that fell-down-a-well effect applied.<\/p>\n

In a manner similar to the way that Disc One opened with a pre-Stax side, the 2CD set closes with a 1984 number from one of King\u2019s last albums. It\u2019s a reading of Elmore James\u2019 \u201cDust My Broom\u201d from I\u2019m in a Phone Booth, Baby<\/em>. Like much of what came out of the blues in the 1980s, the arrangement is hopelessly dated, with a particularly brittle piano part typical of the mid 80s and sax by way of the bland Billy Joel<\/strong> school of ersatz genre-fication. But even in the face of anonymous backing, King is \u2013 yet again and always — still King.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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